User Reviews

Grave Secrets (Secret Screams): 4 out of 10: Decent story about a haunting at a bed and breakfast is let down by a poor script, unfocused direction, and some poor acting choices.

The Good: Of all the actors in this I am willing to give Renée Soutendijk a pass. Considering what she is often given to work with she certainly seems to be trying to put together a character. She also has a semblance of charisma and screen presence.

Though they look funny today the special effects really are not all that bad. Well okay, they are sometimes that bad but they are fun and cartoonish and good lord at least something is happening onscreen.

The Bad: Paul Lemat has the charisma of wet toast in this and David Warner has what amounts to an extended cameo. Outside of a couple of townies and a perky female assistant, there are really no other characters in this film. The majority of the film is Renée Soutendijk telling Paul Lemat to leave her house and Paul basically ignoring her wishes in a way that could charitably be described as creepy in this me-too era. This is not as entertaining as one would think.

The story goes down some surprisingly dark paths. Too bad the script doesn't. The story is some horrifying content that is beyond dark but the script and the direction treat this as an extended Scooby Doo episode. Imagine Requiem for a Dream done by the American Pie people.

The Ugly: There are some interesting ideas in this film that are simply taken out back and shot. The film starts with our ghost hunting professor Lemat being visited by possible femme fatale Soutendijk. Lemat is in his office like Sam Spade with shadows and rain and the like. It is actually a really good start. Their next meeting one would expect in a smokey bar or on a foggy dock. Nope, a mall food court. It is as if the movie had a good idea and just forgot about it.

Speaking of forgotten about the local townie is clearly being set up as a jealous lover, former rapist, jealous of city folk threat to our leads (He throws an axe at them which they blame on the ghost.) He seems destined to have some sort of part to play in the stories resolution. Nope seems like the movie just forgot about him two-thirds of the way through.

In Conclusion: You know the AP style guide says that the modern preferred spelling of axe is ax. Apparently, axe is both old-fashioned and British. Am I so old that the language has changed on me? When did this happen?

As for the movie? Meh. Takes forever to finally get going and when it does the script pulls the stories punches. Skippable.

I love Paul Le Mat and David Warner, even though he did not have a huge role in this, was as always, brilliant. Renee Soutendijk was fine as Iris Norwood, a woman being tormented by an evil spirit. David Shaw, an expert in parapsychology travels to her house to see what is going on.

The spirit turns out to be Iris's father, a truly horrible piece of work who is making his daughter's life miserable.

Spooky happenings occur.

The special effects are a little clunky and show their age, but the mystery keeps you watching and wondering who the ghost is and why he is tormenting Iris.

The acting is solid and if you enjoy 80s horror and ghost stories, you could do worse.

Grave Secrets or Secret Screams is an obscure supernatural horror movie where a woman's sordid and cruel past is responsible for the spooky events occurring at a homestay run by her. However, neither the supernatural elements nor the human trauma factor are well executed, and the ending is definitely a letdown in terms of the mystery's resolution. The film remains somewhat of a curiosity due to its attempts at connecting the horrors of two situations (the hauntings and strange events with the central character's past), however it does not elaborately construct both sub-plots, and there is a shortage of thrills which is disappointing. Still, some of the ghostly special effects are well done and Renée Soutendijk gives a convincing performance as a woman with conflicting emotions.

(1989) Secret Screams/ Grave Secrets HORROR.

It has a ghost lecturer. Paul (David Shaw) receiving a rejection letter of funding handed by his assistant, Darla (Olivia Barash) and he finds out it was the result of refusing to forget about his wife's untimely death. A lady who introduces herself as Iris Norwood (Renée Soutendijk) at first made attempts to entice him to come and visit her 'Bed and Breakfast" inn called the "Homestead House" and tries to do this by slipping him a $5,000 check. After spilling her coffee, and going to grab paper towels while at a diner, she then just decides to walk out without saying a word. But because she left him her bed and breakfast card, he decides to come and visit her. At first,, David was skeptical but had she not handed her the check there would be no motivation to investigate her claims. But just as he agreed to spend one night before leaving, eggs were levitating from a bowl, one of them hitting his face. And it was during then, he sets up comps and cameras around the establishment, unleashing her personal connection to the ghost that's been stalking, haunting her, in which it's family oriented.

The big reveal after David Shaw invited known seance medium, Dr. Carl Farnsworth (David Warner) and his personal assistant, Darla to communicate with the ghostly figure haunting her. It turns out Iris had a family history with the inn in which her dad assaulted her, and buried the baby alive in denial. Iris's main objective was to find out where her father had buried the baby and to give him a proper burial. One of the problems is that the movie was never scary but it did keep me at least interested without cringing.